Cotton seed hull fork



Nov. 21, 1933. M. FLETCHER COTTON SEED HULL FORK Filed Sept. 10, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet l Nov. 21, 1933. M FLETCHER 1,935,841

COTTON SEED HULL FORK Filed Sept. 10, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

Patented Nov. 21, 1933 I 1 935 41 UNITED ".ISTAJT-ES PATENT OFFICE Malcomb Fletcher, Asheboro, N 0.

Application September 10,1932

Serial No. 632;605

3 Claims. (01. 280-57) f This invention relates to improvements indemaintained in substantially horizontal position vices for gathering and transporting material and when the device is at rest. is designed particularly for-handling cottonseed Mounted upon the tops of the beams 2 at the hulls, shavings, wood chips or any other material forward ends, arethe blocks 10,'each of which has "'8 Ma similar character. l secured thereto a bearing 11 and disposed be- The'primaryobject of the present inventionis tween these bearings is a shaft 12 which has its to provide a-materialhandling fork of relatively ends rotatably mounted in the bearings. large capacity, mountedin such a manner as to Disposed upon the frame structure 1 is a fork be conveniently manually handled. which'is'indicated as a whole bythe numeral 1-3.

Another object of theinvention is to'provide a This fork is made up of a plurality of interme- 55 handyoperated fork havinga wheeled-support diatetines 14 between border tines 15, which with means whereby the fork may be released latterform integral continuations of a back'bar for oscillation to effect the dumping thereof. 16 which'as shown, extends transversely of the The invention will be best understood from a ward the fork. The ends of the back bar 16 consideration of the following detailed descripare curved forwardly to form the border tines tion taken in connection with the accompany- 15, as illustrated. 7

ing drawings forming part of this specification, The border tines 15 have disposed therebetween with the understanding however, that the inthe transverse tine carrying bars 17 and 18, the vention is not confined to any strict conformity ends of which are turned upwardly as indicated with the showing of the drawings but may be at 19 and. terminate in the sleeves 20 through changed or modified so long as such changes or which the border tines pass. The tines 14 pass modifications mark no material departure from over and are secured to the cross bar 17 of the the salient features of the invention as expressed fork and pass through the intermediate cross bar in the appended claims. 18 as shown, and then curve upwardly toward 25 In the drawings:- the back bar 16. It will thus be seen that with Figure 1 is a view in top plan of the device emthe intermediate tines 14 secured in the manner bodying the present invention; shown to the cross bars 17 and 18 and then Figure 2 is a sectional view taken substantially turned upwardly at their rear ends toward the upon the line 22 of Figure 1, the device being back bar 16, and with the border tines maintained 30 shown in scooping position; in a higher plane than the intermediate tines by Figure 3 is a view inside elevation of the forthe upturned ends 19 of the cross bars 1'7 and 18,

ward portion of the mechanism showing the fork the fork is formed with a boll-like rear portion,

in dumping position; I whereas at its forward end the tines are disposed Figure 4 is a sectional view taken on the line substantially in the same plane or they may be 35 44 of Figure 2. disposed upon a slight downwardly extending Referring now more particularly to the drawcurve. ings wherein like numerals of reference indicate Secured to the intermediate cross bar 4 of the corresponding parts throughout the several views, fork carrying frame is a yoke 21 in which is the numeral 1 indicates generally the carrying disposed the lower end of a normally vertically 40 frame for the present device. arranged hook shank 22, the hook portion 23 of This frame is, as will be readily seen, in the the upper end thereof normally engaging over form of a hand truck, it having the two beams the cross bar 18 of the fork to maintain the fork each of which is indicated by the numeral 2, in operative position upon the frame. The lower which are arranged in slightly convergent relaend of this shank 22 is pivotally held in place by 45 tion toward the front end of the device and the bolt 24 and extending rearwardly from the which are connected by the forward, middle and lower end of this shank beneath the cross bar 5 rear cross bars 3, 4 and 5 respectively. The forof the frame, is a hand lever 25 which is arranged ward bar 3 is not disposed between the forward for convenient oscillation by the operator of the ends of the beams 2 but is slightly to the rear fork, so that the rear of the fork may be released 0 thereof and these forward ends are connected by from the hook 23 to permit'the fork to oscillate and bolted to an axle 6 upon each end of which or tilt forwardly and dump the contents thereof. is mounted a wheel '7. The other ends of the n O d r prevent the accidental p a beams 2 are formed to provide the handles 8. ment of the hook 23 there is connected to the Adjacent the rear ends, the beams 2 are each shank portion 22 at a point well above the pivot 5 provided with a foot member 9 by which they are point therefor, one end of a coil spring 26 which extends forwardly and has its other end attached in any suitable manner, as for example, to a bolt 2'7 carried by'the forward cross bar 3. In operation, the operator of the fork grasps the handles 8 and upon raising the beams 2 to the inclined position which hand trucks of the character shown assume, the points of the tines.l4 and 15 will be directed downwardly in such a manner as to enable the'operator to force the same into a pile of seed hulls or any other material which is to be moved. After the fork has been loaded in this manner and the contentstransported to the desired location they may be readily dumped by oscillating the lever 25 to release therear of the fork and allow the forward end thereof to tip down. The fork may, of course, be readily dumped also by simply raising the beams2 to an elevated position and pulling the fork frear wardly, thus causing the contents to slide off of the tines.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:-

1..A device of the character described, comprising a truck having a pair of side beams, supporting wheels carrying said beams at one end, handle means at the other ends of the beams, a shaft oscillatably mounted upon said beams at the forward end and extending transversly thereof, a scoop fork mounted upon and secured to said shaft, said shaftextending transversely of the fork at a point substantially midway between its front andrearends, a hook member pivotally carried by said beams and having releasable engagement with the rear portion of said fork, and resilient means normally, maintaining said hook in engagement with the fork. a

2. In a structure of the character described, a wheeled hand truck, a shaft oscillatably mounted upon the truck and extending transversely of the forward end thereof, a scoop fork attached to said shaft and comprising a transverse back bar and transverse intermediate bars, said intermediate bars having their endsturned upwardly, said back bar having its endsvextended and curved forwardly to form border tines for the fork, said border tines being secured to the upturned ends of the cross bars, said back bar being disposed at a higher elevation than the cross bars, and intermediate tines extending transversely of said cross bars and securedthereto and curved upwardly attheir rear ends for connection with said back bar, and means for releasably securing the rear or the fork to the truck.

3. In a structure of the character described, a wheeled hand truck, a shaft extending transversely of the forward end of the truck and oscillatably mounted thereon, a scoop-like fork supported by said shaft and having the shaft extending transversely of the middle portion thereof whereby the forward ends of the fork tines project a substantial distance beyond the truck, a bar disposed transversely of the fork adjacent its rear, a hook member oscillatably mounted upon the truck and adaptedto engage over said bar, spring means normally drawing said hook member forward into engagement with the bar, and a control lever for the hook having one end connected with the hook and extending rearwardly therefrom for actuation from the rear of the truck.

MALCOMB FLETCHER. 

